Small firms ‘can make e-marketing relevant’
The key to web marketing is relevance to the customer, a factor giving small firms the opportunity to excel and offer a more personalised approach, according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Highlighting the best approaches to direct marketing and other channels, the group claimed that failed marketing campaigns were doubly wasteful if a firm was unable to identify which customers were not responding.
David Thorp, director of research and information at CIM, said that for direct marketing it was key to refine a campaign, with affiliate marketing and other web approaches also depending on the relevance of content.
He explained: "Market segmentation is a key fundamental. Knowing who your audience is, as a small company, that is a really big benefit. You really do have to know who they are.
"If you are a specialised company then technology can really help you to identify your people. That’s the big advantage that a smaller enterprise has."
Knowing who a marketing campaign is aimed at can often help make the most of keyword research and web analytics, ensuring that efforts are channelled toward targeting the right market.
